Australia in the Top 10 Countries for New Solar Power Installations

Posted by Faith Fernandez on November 28, 2012

According to figures from clean energy authority Clean Technica, Australia is ranked 6 in the world for new solar power connections per capita to the end of 2011. This is great news for anyone with an interest in creating a greener future for our country. Sitting in front of Australia is Italy, Germany, Belgium, Slovakia, and Greece. Interestingly, the UK is ranked 14 and the USA is in position 31.

A lot of the reason for Australians moving to solar energy can be directly attributed to the massive rises in conventional electricity costs (in some cases upwards of 60% over two years). Couple this with the generous government solar rebates available for solar PV systems and the various Feed in Tariffs (FiTs) across each state which allow you to sell unused electricity back to the grid and it’s no wonder Australians are making the switch to solar electricity.

We’ve also seen the cost of solar panels dropping significantly over the past two years due to improved manufacturing efficiencies and a boom in production throughout China. So much so, Chinese leaders recommend the closing of many smaller companies. This has resulted in a glut of solar panels on the market.

Applied Materials, one of the leading suppliers of solar PV equipment says this time last year, industry figures suggested 98% of the world’s population would see grid parity (where solar energy costs the same as traditional energy) by the end of 2020. Now, however, given the faster than expected take up of solar power, they believe parity will be achieved by this end of 2012.

Here are the top 20 countries (per capita) for new solar installations:

Italy

Germany

Belgium

Slovakia

Greece

Australia

France

Malta

Slovenia

Israel

Turkey

Bulgaria

Switzerland

UK

Canada

Japan

Luxembourg

Ukraine

Cyprus

South Korea

Back in Australia, to the dismay of many in the solar industry, the existing rebates and tariffs are scaling back and could be removed altogether at any time so it’s important for anyone thinking about moving to solar energy to get in now and do some research.

Faith Fernandez is part of the team at Solar Market, which provides a service for solar power installers to get more work.

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